Ahmadinejad: West, Israel threaten us

Published September 26th, 2012 - 17:34 GMT

In his last appearance at the podium of the UN General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday accused the West and Israel of trying to "intimidate" his country but has refrained from launching his usual diatribes.

In his last appearance at the podium of the UN General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday accused the West and Israel of trying to "intimidate" his country but has refrained from launching his usual diatribes. "The arms race and the bullying ways of nuclear weapons (..) by hegemonic powers prevail," said Ahmadinejad. "Test of new generation of ultra-modern weapons and threatening to brandish in time became a new way to threaten nations to force them to accept the hegemony."

"The persistent threats wielded by the uncivilized Zionists to resort to military action against our great nation clearly illustrate this bitter reality," he added, referring implicitly to speculation about Israeli strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday morning before the Assembly that the United States would do "what is needed" to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb. The Europeans have been considering new sanctions against Iran, and Israeli leaders have threatened to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.

The Iranian president has also reserved some pikes at the UN, including the Security Council, as he said, it "is under the domination of a limited number of governments, thus preventing the UN to fulfill its responsibilities in a fair manner."

But he devoted most of his speech to long philosophical and religious considerations, predicting lyrically the imminent arrival of a "Supreme Saviour," the Imam Mehdi. His appearance "with Jesus Christ the righteous" will provide humanity with a "bright future forever," assured Ahmadinejad. The Mehdi, also sometimes called "hidden imam" is the twelfth and last Imam of Shi'a Islam who disappeared in the ninth century.